So, you just push a button?

Wow, I can lift it with one finger - and the rollers don't come out of the track either!

Mike, the garage door guy, was impressed with what cat pee can do to a heavy steel garage door. Now, with all of the cats "out of the way" this new door will stand a chance of survival. Mike had the old one out and the new one installed in a couple of hours.

Then it was my turn.

I read the novel --er, instruction book and spread out the parts for the wonderful new opener. Mom and I worked together to get the motor and chain drive up before she left for the F. H. library. Then I ran the wires and put the garage back together. It all works! Push the button - door goes up - push the button - door goes down.

Evening view from the inside

Scenic view of the 3/4 hp drive motor

It is raining like crazy tonight but you will notice that we got the wide panel model. Tomorrow I am installing new wiring for the motor and several 4 ft. garage lights.

What a great gift - Thank you to all of you!

Pismo Beach in January

Yes, it really was beach weather. Shorts, swim suits and playing on the beach were the order of the day. Sara, Lee and family, The Bartons and Kerry and Shanna decided that Jan. 4 - 8 looked good for a little camping just down the street from Susie, Tyler and Caleb's house. This was a week that reminded all of us why we live in California. We had the beach mostly to ourselves and enjoyed warm sunny weather every day. We rode bikes, walked, saw the Elephant Seals, stayed up late and got up whenever the kids decided that it was time to get up!

Sand Castles

Carissa in her "Steed-wear"

What is it about jumping off sand dunes? All ages love it. Grayson demos the correct technique.

We had glorious sunsets.

Oooooo..Ahhhhhh!

Life in camp around the Bradford tent trailer is always fun.

I had to "pinkie swear" not to show anyone the secret entrance to Derek's hideout. He is up in the lookout tree.

Caleb has the fastest and most efficient crab-crawl that I have ever seen!

While the others are off to the beach I am headed for all the private schools that I could find between Paso Robles and Orcutt. I worked a day and one half.

Running on the beach !?*

Tyler introduced us to two new campfire activites. First, we learned (but didn't do very well at) the number game "Big Booty." Then he told us about "woffums" and Scott made woffum toasters out of pieces of dowling about two inches long attached to 1/8th inch wire. We wrapped canned biscuit dough over the end of the dowl and roasted it over the hot coals. Then we filled the middle of our woffum with butter, jam, cream, pudding, sugar and cinnamon. The name is well earned - we woffed 'em as quickly as they were baked! They were the hit of the week along with the Barton's new over-the-fire popcorn popper.

Everybody except Kerry and Shanna left on Saturday so we retreated to Susie and Tyler's. We had a wonderful time on Saturday and took care of Caleb so S and T could go out Saturday night. We attended Pismo Beach Ward on Sunday (good, strong Ward!) and were treated to one of Susie's specialty dinners on Sunday night. We made the drive home on Monday just in time for a special appointment on Tuesday.

3 Buddies

Wade, Caleb, and Max. Three little buddies, hanging out on New Year's Day.

So Long, Christmas Tree

I came to the conclusion recently that the saddest day of the year is the day that the Christmas decorations get taken down and put away, and the tree - which was so so carefully pruned, lit, and ornamented at the beginning of December - gets dumped outside like trash in January. That's why we decided to give our tree the thrilling, fiery end it deserved.

Lovely Leo (Carillo, that is)

In honor of Lee's birthday, and as a kickoff to Christmas vacation, we took off after church and went to Leo Carillo yesterday for a quick camping trip. We decided to go sans trailer in the name of simplicity and also to show the kids how to set up a tent. There were a handful of other campers there, but we mostly had the place to ourselves.

Across the PCH there are tidepools, caves, tunnels and beach. It is just north of the Ventura County line and a favorite spot.

There was an amazing sunset and unfortunately, our camera just doesn't do it justice, but it was radiant.

We cooked old school style with the outside stove and lots of canned things, but it was delicious! We even made stovetop popcorn!

Now it's time for Lee's big celebration!

Snowy Christmastime

We made it through night one of the deep freeze - it was only 24 degrees. Lisa and Emily Steed on the other hand are snowed in and Greg can't get home. They have over two feet of snow and the old neighbor with the snowplough died last spring! Lisa says she is fine but lonely.

Tonight is our last very cold night for this storm. Only one person on the block had a freeze break in a water line but several had frozen lines that cut off their water supply for the early morning hours. I love it when the street is covered with snow and the traffic lanes overlap.

Mom is hard at work getting stuff ready for the big ward dinner on Friday. Somehow the Christmas lights look better with all of the snow on the roof and the ground.

I snapped this photo just after six pm and it was already below thirty degrees. I almost went down on my keester when I slipped on the ice as I picked my way down the driveway. This one looks cool enlarged. Tonight it is hard to imagine the summer heatwave that we shared back in July. I hope everyone is staying warm.

Fireworks and Snowfall

We joked about the weather service never getting it right when they predict a big storm but this time they were right on the money. We got about ten inches of wet snow on Monday morning.

Branches began snapping and falling on the house at about 4 AM. We lost our electric power at 4:45. By that time Shanna and I were on the couch in the great room. We were sure that a limb was going to come into our bedroom. We watched the flashes of brilliant blue light as trees fell all around the neighborhood blowing up transformers. I have never seen so many trees down on power lines - even more than in that storm in 1988.

Wouldn't the grandkids have fun on this swing. Great snowball snow, too! No school so many kids out in the snow. I saw one snowman that was at least eight feet tall!

Some of the carnage from the heavy snow on the Live Oak trees. In all we lost about ten major branches but without any damage to the house or electrical service. Kathy Beavers lost a large Live Oak which fell across her power hook up leaving her blocked in her yard without any power. Jeremiah to the rescue! He cut a path through the downed tree and then flattened out the snow so she could get her car out. She went to stay with Lisa.

Didn't move the Dodge all day and with a low of 20 predicted for tonight she may sit in her spot for another day or two. Many cars over the side of the little roads on this ice and snow. It would have been fun to have this storm when the family was all here but only for about five hours. We now have our power back and are ready for the next round.